The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-08-24
THE UNDERT0W,
A PHENOMENON THAT IA PE-
CULIAR TO OCEAN WAVES.
A Powerful lUndercurrent That Fre-
qucntly Overcomes the Strong
est Swimmer-Curious Illus
trations of Its Force.

est Swimmer-Curious Illus
trations of Its Force.
Every wave that rolls up from the sea
and breaks on the gently sloping beach
has In it the elements of an undertow.
AS soon as the wave has expended its
force the waters begin to recede. For 8
moment It would seem as if the sand was
running sway from beneath your feet,
and no sound foothold could he obtained.
Every bather has experienced this sensa:
tion, and the timid ones invariably grasp
the safety-ropes with little gasp of ter
ror. If seized suddenly by strong
undertow they would have about
the same feeling, only in the lat
! ter case the sand would all
wash away under their feet, or, more
accurately, their feet would be carried
away from the sand. The sudden un-
balancing of the body would be fatal to
the bather, unless strong rope was in
reaching distance; for it does not require
avery strong current to carry floating
body out to sea. The unfortunate
frequency of undertows near our beaches
makes it dangerous for bathers to enter
the water unless theyare well acquainted
with the tides and currents in the
neighborhood. The under tows are not
so marvellously strong as is frequently
quoted, but that they will often carry
bathers off their feet and pull them quite
q distant seaward is quite evident.
When one ventures into saltwater up to
his waist he is very light on his feet, and
an undercurrent suddenly strikes him and
washing the sand along with it is liable
to upset him in an unceremonious man
ner. Entangled in the treacherous
current, he would be carried hundreds Of
yards from the shore before he could re-
cover himself, even though he be a good
swimmer.
As the undertows flow out to sea they
gradually leave the surface of the water
and penetrate deeper into the liquid mass,
losing their force as they do so. Some
times their strength is dissipated alto
gether when reaching deep water and
coming in contact with numerous counter
! undertows or currents, but more often
they flow into some permanent current
which travels the whole length or breadth
of the ocean; hence objects that are
caught near the shore by the undertow
and carried under the water by the force
of the current are likely to be thrown up
on the surface of the sea some distance
from the beach. The length of time
that the objects will remain under water
depends solely upon the strength of the
rushing waters. This fact has been
illustrated frequently in curious ways.
Some ten years ago small schooner
laden with a valuable cargo went down
off Fire Island Lighthouse in the middle
of clear day. She had sprung a leak,
and owing to the clumsiness OF
the heavy articles composing the
cargo the sailors could not reach
the spot where the water was rushing in.
The vessel gradually settled down in the
water, while the crew took to their boats
and escaped to the beach. The exact
spot of the accident was located, how
ever, by the captain, and preparations
Immediately made to raise the sunken
schooner. The water was comparatively
shallow, and little difficulty was antici-
pated in getting at the wreck. But the
wrecking crew and the captain were all
considerably puzzled, when they attempt
cd to find the schooner, at not being able
to discover the faintest sign of her
whereabouts. The bottom of the ocean
was sounded in all directions around the
spot pointed out by the captain, but all
to no purpose. Finally the work was
given up, and the strange disappearance of
the schooner attributed to some of those
mysterious workings of the sea that have
in all ages astonished navigators and
divers. The history of the wrecked
boat would have probably ended there
had it not been for an accidental dis
covery made shortly afterward. While
sounding the sea off the lighthouse dur
ing a fog the lead from an ocean steamer
came in contact with the rigging of a
wrecked vessel, which was reported to
the proper authorities on arriving in the
city. On examining the place the lost
schooner was brought to light. She was
at least quarters OF mile from the
spot where she had gone down. On dis
covering later that during high tide a
strong undertow frequented that part of
the beach, the cause of the strange re-
moval of the boat was attributed to it.
1t was supposed, and reasonably so, that
when the boat sunk, the undertow caught
it before it struck bottom and carried it
along with it, and finally dropped it in
| deeper water.
In the same way the strength of the
undertows have frequently caused con-
siderable damage in carrying the sound
ing-lead of vessels along with them. On
approaching certain shores the waters
frequently become abruptly deep or shall
low, so that the time between two
ssheaves" of the lead might be long
enough for steamer going at moderate
rate to run full upon submerged sand
bar. Cases are on record where the lead
has been thrown and the bottom reached
with a moderately short line, and then
thrown again only to find no bottom at
ALL The fact was, however, that the bot
tom was nearer the surface of the water
than when the first lead was thrown, but
strong undcrtow having seized the
heavy piece of lead, the line was played
out until it was brought up with q jerk
when the end was reached. The lead was
hauled in slowly, as plenty of water
seemed to be present, and only thrown
again after the boat had run ahead con-
siderable distance. 1t did not require
many fathoms of line to reach the bot
tom in the next hcave; in fact, there was
scarcely water enough to float the vesSel.